Diablo III PTR Patch Improves Barbarian, More Damage Than Before

The Public Test Realm (PTR) has received a new patch for Diablo III that highlights a healthy improvement for the Barbarian class.

The Battle Rage skill has been completely redesigned to offer more sustained damage. It previously increased the damage dealt by players by 10 percent and Critical Hit Chance by 3 percent. The new version removes those buffs and instead allows the Barbarian to deal damage equal to 20 percent of recent Critical Hits to all enemies within 20 yards every second.

Without any further clarification, we can only assume that the new Battle Rage will still be an activated ability that runs for a prescribed duration.

“Bloodshed caused performance issues when encountering high enemy density, particularly when combined with Whirlwind, Pain Enhancer, and Gem of Efficacious Toxin,” warns the developer. Though, the issue should be amended by the time the patch hits the live servers of Diablo III.

A number of legendary items for the Barbarian have also received increased numbers to damage. Bracers of Destruction, Bracers of the First Men, Fury of the Vanished Peak, Gravel of Judgement, Girdle of Giants, Skull Grasp, and Standoff now deal more damage than before. Some of them have even received buffs to other attributes such as movement speed.

Elsewhere, Blizzard has increased the drop rate of “many” legendary and set items. However, the developer has refrained from mentioning exactly what players can expect to find more.

Diablo III recently received the Rise of the Necromancer expansion pack. It arrived late but is still there to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the franchise. Players get to control the returning Necromancer class in both Campaign and Adventure modes.